Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tequila_Sunrise 09-13-06, 12:32 AM	I just had an epiphany as a result of reading Space Coyote's 'Help Me Convince My Players to Wear Heavy Armor' thread on Enworld! Part of the problem with heavy armor I think is that it has no more AC progression than any other armor. No matter if you're level 3 or 30, full plate is still only 4 bonuses better than a chain shirt. Well lucky for me, I'm revamping d&d anyway so it's not much bother to add a little more dynamic to this armor issue. In my revamp armor (in terms of protection) is as follows: Light Leather Shirt:+1 Defence, 1 DR Chain Shirt: +1 Defence, 2 DR Scale Shirt: +1 Defense, 3 DR Plate Shirt: +1 Defence, 4 DR Medium Full Leather: +2 Defence, 1 DR Full Chain : +2 Defence, 2 DR Full Scale : +2 Defence, 3 DR Full Plate: +2 Defence, 4 DR Heavy Leather Mail: +3 Defence, 1 DR Chain Mail: +3 Defence, 2 DR Scale Mail: +3 Defence, 3 DR Plate Mail : +3 Defence, 4 DR Shield Buckler: +1 Defence Light: +2 Defence Heavy: +3 Defence Tower: +4 Defence So this makes heavy armor even suckier for characters that don't know how to use it right, but I've created a new feat tree: Armor Focus: When wearing medium armor add 1 to your Defence. When wearing heavy armor add 2 to your Defence. When using a shield add 2 to your Defence. Required: 4 ranks in Combat. Improved Armor Focus: " " Required: 9 ranks in Combat. Greater Armor Focus: " " Required: 14 ranks in Combat. Supreme Armor Focus: " " Required: 19 ranks in Combat. Combine these feats with the fact that the Warrior class in my revamp gets a bonus feat at each level, and suddenly heavy armor doesn't suck nearly so much! As a fringe benefit of this system, it makes armor generally unapealing to spellcasters without resorting to the Spell Failure system which I've been trying to find a way around forever!
dizfactor 09-14-06, 03:40 AM	Wow, I so have the opposite problem, as I really prefer fantasy in a light-armor setting, either a bare-chested barbarian sort of setting (a la Conan) or a swashbuckling late Renaissance high magic/magical technology setting, possibly with some wuxia/martial arts flavor to it. Full plate armor just bores me to tears, and I hate medieval European aesthetics. I use the class-based Defense bonus system, and armor provides only DR, no defense bonus at all, while still having the normal armor check penalties and maximum DEX bonuses. I'm toying with having heavy armor reduce your class-based bonus, too.
Neofish 09-14-06, 04:36 PM	I use the class-based Defense bonus system, and armor provides only DR, no defense bonus at all, while still having the normal armor check penalties and maximum DEX bonuses. I'm toying with having heavy armor reduce your class-based bonus, too. I'm doing something similar to that in my next campaign. I'm going to let the Defense bonus and the Armor Bonus stack, but armor check penalties subtract from your defense bonus. It looks like it will work out alright. But then again, I may make it so that armor only grants DR, not a minor AC boost aswell, dunno, have to wait and see how it works out.
Moniker 09-14-06, 05:30 PM	This is what I developed for my game. We give different DR by weapon type and armor. It requires the PCs to be aware of what their enemies are wearing and what they're wearing. I like the flexibility and verisimilar feel to it: http://ogy.cc/optiuo.gif (give it a few moments for the image to update on the server)
Seerow 09-14-06, 05:34 PM	This is what I developed for my game. We give different DR by weapon type and armor. It requires the PCs to be aware of what their enemies are wearing and what they're wearing. I like the flexibility and verisimilar feel to it: Sounds a lot like one of the optional rules from 2nd Ed to me. I always did hate that rule.
Moniker 09-14-06, 05:45 PM	My players actually asked for the rule, strangely enough. I didn't want to do any more excessive number crunching, but makes for better combat overall in my game. It incorporates more skill into choosing what weapon is right for the situation, especially since they fight mostly other mannish races as opposed to monsters. Plus, it mitigates a lot of damage towards them, which was the primary incentive to adopt a rule for it in d20. Mileage may vary. :)
Jerks 09-14-06, 05:51 PM	I'm doing something similar to that in my next campaign. I'm going to let the Defense bonus and the Armor Bonus stack, but armor check penalties subtract from your defense bonus. It looks like it will work out alright. But then again, I may make it so that armor only grants DR, not a minor AC boost aswell, dunno, have to wait and see how it works out. Hmm, that doesn't sound like a bad ideal at all. I use a class + AC system as well and so far I've been letting them stack up to either the AC bonus or the max DEx bonus of the armor (whichever is greater). I'll have to crunch your numbers and see how it shakes out.
Neofish 09-15-06, 12:15 PM	Hmm, that doesn't sound like a bad ideal at all. I use a class + AC system as well and so far I've been letting them stack up to either the AC bonus or the max DEx bonus of the armor (whichever is greater). I'll have to crunch your numbers and see how it shakes out. Sweet, lets us know how it turns out ya?
Thelon Fairblade 09-15-06, 02:44 PM	I just went ahead and rebuilt the armor table to be consistent, according to my view. But, since I am not making use of DR and Defense systems, I won't include it here. I was hoping to see that kind of epiphany. Oh well!
Tequila_Sunrise 09-17-06, 01:03 AM	This is what I developed for my game. We give different DR by weapon type and armor. It requires the PCs to be aware of what their enemies are wearing and what they're wearing. I like the flexibility and verisimilar feel to it: I thought about doing something similar but for me, it's just not worth the complication. I like realism in the game but at a certain point, it just gives me a headache.